Interview with Chairman, Council for Leather Exports

BANGALORE, INDIA: Excerpts from the Interview

1. Briefly tell us about your organisation and its achievements

Mr Rafeeque AhmedThe Council for Leather Exports (CLE), an export promotion organisation functioning under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, is the apex body of the increasingly professional and rapidly growing Indian leather industry. Since its inception in 1984, the Council has been playing an active role in the overall development of the leather sector, including infrastructure development, market development and export promotion, market research etc.

In short, the Council not only serves as a bridge between Indian exporters and overseas buyers but also as the voice of the industry by taking-up the issues of the industry with the Government.

2. Profile of President:

Overall role- both outside and inside the association Serving the Council for Leather Exports (CLE) as Chairman is a Honorary position. Of course, this is a prestigious position which provides an opportunity to interact with a cross section of industry members across the country, understand their concerns and issues and accordingly frame long term and short term proposals for consideration of the Government.

As Chairman of CLE, I am representing the leather sector in various Committees formed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry including Board of Trade, Sub - Group on Employment Intensive Sectors for XII Plan, Working Group on Leather for XII plan etc.,

Besides CLE, I am also associated with other organizations and have the opportunity of currently serving as Chairman, Footwear Design & Development of Institute, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (FDDI); President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) ; President, The All Indian Skin and Hide Tanners and Merchants Association (AISHTMA); Chairman, Tamil Nadu State Council of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

On the whole, I have had the opportunity to be associated with the leather industry for more than 4 decades. Besides, on the Social front, I have the satisfaction of undertaking various social service activities by initiating and maintaining various projects on Child Care, Mass Vaccination, Tree Plantations, Health and blood Camps, provision of drinking water in co-ordination with the local authorities etc., through by company Farida Group.

On my business front, I am the Chairman of Farida Group, a vertically integrated manufacturer of footwear/footwear components/finished leather in India for the global market. The Farida Group, with an employee strength of 10,000, exports products to leading Brands and Retailers across the globe.

3. Please briefly tell about your journey to become President

I was elected as a Chairman of the Council for Leather Exports unanimously in December 2010. This is my third tenure as Chairman of CLE, the earlier two occasions from 1997 to 1999 and from 2005 to 2007. Besides, I had earlier served as Vice - Chairman of the Council from 1992 to 1997.

Also read: Profile of Council for Leather Exports

4. Key priorities of your Council

The core areas where the leather sector has to concentrate inorder to achieve double digit growth levels in production and exports and generation of additional employment in the coming years are: a) technological upgradation and production enhancement b) human resources development c) environment management d) market penetration and e) infrastructure development.

Of late, the Council has been playing an increasing role in areas namely infrastructure development. The Council has successfully implemented the project for providing additional facilities at the Ambur Trade Centre at Ambur in Tamil Nadu with assistance from the Government of India.

The other infrastructure projects being currently implemented by the Council include establishment of testing laboratory at Ranipet in Tamil Nadu, upgradation of Design Studio in Kolkata and establishment of multi-skill development centre and testing centre in Kanpur.

Besides, the Council has also obtained approval for establishment of a Common Facility Centre (CFC) in Jalandhar with assistance from the Government. The Council will frame-up more such infrastructure project proposals in consultation with industry members for the overall growth of the industry.

The Council will also be playing a major role in the arena of Training. Recently, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), has approved the Council's proposal for setting-up of a Sector Skill Council for Leather. The objective of SSC is to train about and certify about 2 million learners over ten years, particularly in the area of shop floor level operations of the industry in which there is acute shortage of trained manpower currently.

5. Council's priorities for 2012-2013

The Government of India has announced the setting-up of Mega Leather Clusters in 7 states in the Union Budget 2011-12. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is currently faming-up the guidelines for this scheme and the scheme will be notified shortly. We expect that the Council for Leather Exports will be made the implementing agency for setting-up of these Mega Leather Clusters which are likely to come-up in five years.

This will be a major landmark scheme and hence a key priority for CLE as these Mega Leather Clusters, which will have world class infrastructure and support services, will play a crucial role in significantly enhancing the productivity from the leather sector, besides creating employment opportunities. Besides, the Council will continue its aggressive marketing activities in both traditional and upcoming markets.

6. Major challenges to the leather industry

Europe and USA are the major markets for the Indian leather industry accounting for about 75% of exports. These markets were adversely affected on account of the global economic slowdown in the second half of 2008-09 and also in 2009-10, resulting in decline of exports from the Indian leather sector to USD 3404.57 million in 2009-10 as against the value of USD 3599.46 million in 2008-09, thereby declining by -5.41%.

Also read: Crowdsourcing after Cloudsoucing for SMEs

However, the exports picked-up well during 2010-11, with the leather sector achieving an export value of USD 3844.86 million, thereby showing an impressive positive growth of 12.93%. However, of late, the European and US markets are again getting affected by recession and debt problems which is a cause of concern for all of us.

Besides, the other problems which are confronting the industry are the steep increase in prices of hides, skins and leathers and also chemicals which are essential raw materials for the industry.

7. A message for the upcoming leaders in the same vertical

Trade and more so international trade is full of challenges and opportunities. Hence, set-backs are common in trade. However, such set-backs should not deter us from setting high targets, as lessons learnt from such set-backs should be converted into success.

As far as the leather industry is concerned, though the global market is now affected by recessionary trends, there are good prospects for the industry in the long term. The global market for leather and leather products which is about USD 130 billion now, is expected to grow significantly in the next decade and hence India has the opportunity to considerably enhance its share in the global market which is currently about 2.95% only.

If we are able to double this share by 2020, we will not only be enhancing the foreign exchange earnings for the country, but will also be creating substantial employment opportunities, particularly for the economically weaker sections of the society.